Guidance Officer Update 27-04-23

Dear Mareeba Families,​

Welcome back to Term 2. An ongoing issue for parents, students and school staff alike is tiredness. Whilst many factors are implicated in mitigating this issue, one of the best things to help your child succeed at school is promoting good sleep hygiene. Many sleep struggles are caused or made worse by poor sleep hygiene. When practicing sleep hygiene, remember that consistency is key. Sleep strategies take time and repetition to be effective.

• Create a Routine: A consistent bedtime routine lets your child's mind know that it's time to settle down and prepare for sleep. The actual routine can be specific to your child, but it should last around 20 minutes and consist of three to four quiet, soothing activities such as putting on PJs, brushing teeth, a warm bath, and reading. Bedtime routines provide children with a sense of familiarity and comfort, which acts in direct opposition to the uncertainty of insomnia.
• Set a Bedtime: A sleep schedule works with your child's natural biological clock to promote dozing off with regularity. Bedtimes are most useful when they're consistent, so try to keep the same bedtime on weekends as on school nights. Altering bedtimes during the weekend will make it more difficult for kids to maintain their normal weekday schedules.
• Implement a Screen Curfew: The ubiquity of screens makes this rule hard to implement, but it's well worth it. Mobile devices, TVs, and tablets emit a type of blue light that suppresses melatonin, a hormone that promotes sleep. Children may be particularly vulnerable to the effects of light from screens (Hale et al., 2018). Screen time also stimulates the brain, making it harder to wind down for sleep. Electronic devices should be kept out of the bedroom and ideally not used within one hour of bedtime.
• Get Exercise: Physical activity is proven to help people of all ages fall asleep faster and stay asleep. Most children need at least one hour of exercise per day. Just make sure to avoid vigorous activity within two hours of bedtime. Otherwise, your child may feel wound-up and find it harder to fall asleep.
• Avoid Scary or Violent Content: Feeling scared or worried is a common reason kids can't sleep. So it's no wonder that scary or violent movies, TV, video games, and even books in the evening are linked to sleep disturbances in children.
• No Caffeine: Caffeine is a stimulant that can both make it harder to fall asleep and reduce the quality of sleep. In addition to the usual suspects like soda, coffee, and energy drinks, watch out for more discreet sources like tea, decaf coffee (which still has trace amounts of caffeine) and chocolate. Even small amounts of caffeine can have a big impact in a little body. Don't let your child consume caffeine within six hours of bedtime, or preferably, avoid it all together.
• Don't Sleep with a Pet: While it's tempting for tots to snuggle Fido in bed, a pet's movements and noises during the night can awaken them from a peaceful slumber. Try having your furry family member sleep outside of your child's bedroom for a few nights to see if that helps. To make the transition easier, include saying goodnight to pets in the bedtime routine.

How much sleep do children need?

The amount of sleep we need changes with age. Everyone is different, but as a guide, children need the following amounts of sleep every night:

• ages 3 to 5: 10 to 13 hours
• ages 6 to 13: 9 to 11 hours
• ages 14 to 17: 8 to 10 hours

A Quick Guide to Sleeping Times:

Getting enough sleep is vital for your child's physical health, brain function, emotional wellbeing, safety, and ability to function day to day. Not having enough sleep or not sleeping well can affect how children learn and lead to mood swings and behavioural problems.

Making a Sleepy Bedroom

Optimizing your child's bedroom is an integral part of inducing quick and seamless shuteye. People with insomnia are more likely to be distracted by an uncomfortable bedroom, which makes sleep even harder. These tips can help you create the perfect sleep setup for your little one:

• Room Temperature: The body and brain both cool down in preparation for sleep, and this can be disrupted by a stuffy bedroom. Try to keep the room cool (block-out curtains?).
• Noise: Research suggests that even mild sound disturbances can affect the quality of slumber, even if the sleeper never awakens. Consider noise-blocking curtains to cut down on street noise. You can use a fan or white noise machine to drown out unpredictable or distracting sounds.
• Light Level: Keep your child's bedroom as dark as possible. This promotes healthy levels of melatonin and supports your child's natural biological clock. If your child is afraid of the dark, a small nightlight is okay.
• Soothing smells: Calming scents like lavender (Koulivand et al., 2014) have mild sedative effects. You might try using essential oils, a room diffuser, or dried potpourri sachet to provide a soothing, sleep-inducing smell.

Overcoming Bedtime Worry

Unfortunately, childhood anxiety is steadily rising. Stress is known to disrupt sleep in all ages, so anything that can reduce worrying before bed is helpful. Help your child learn to manage their concerns with these tactics:

• Write In a Journal: Encourage your child to get their anxious thoughts out of their head and onto paper. It can also help for them to write about the good things that happened in the day. Focusing on the positive will help children feel more secure.
• Mindfulness Exercises: Mindfulness exercises like meditation are proven to calm the nervous system and decrease stress hormones. There are many kid-friendly meditations that parents and children can do together. These often consist of simple breathing techniques, body awareness, or guided imagery. Look to books, tapes, and even smartphone apps for ideas.
• Create a Worry Time: It's okay to discuss worries, just not at bedtime. Set aside a specific time during the day for your children to discuss their concerns and how to cope with them. This can free children of the need to dwell on worries before bed.

The Art of the Room Check

It's normal for even the best little sleepers to awaken from slumber and ask for a parent. When your child cries out for you, it's okay to tend to them. However, you should do so with intention. This is not the time to give in to demands, as doing so can increase stimulation and make it harder to fall asleep. Fulfilling your child's every request can also reinforce an unhelpful pattern of relying on parental assistance for sleep.

Keep the checks short and simple. The point is to provide your child with reassurance that they're safe and cared for, while still fostering their ability to self-soothe and sleep on their own. Some parents may even wait a few seconds before answering a call so that their child has the opportunity to fall back asleep on their own.

Sweet dreams!

Wendy Harris-Gallichan, Guidance Officer.

Hale, L., Kirschen, G. W., LeBourgeois, M. K., Gradisar, M., Garrison, M. M., Montgomery-Downs, H., Kirschen, H., McHale, S. M., Chang, A. M., & Buxton, O. M. (2018). Youth Screen Media Habits and Sleep: Sleep-Friendly Screen Behavior Recommendations for Clinicians, Educators, and Parents. Child and adolescent psychiatric clinics of North America, 27(2), 229–245. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29502749/

Koulivand PH, Khaleghi Ghadiri M, Gorji A. Lavender and the nervous system. Evid Based Complement Alternat Med. 2013;2013:681304. doi: 10.1155/2013/681304. Epub 2013 Mar 14. PMID: 23573142; PMCID: PMC3612440.

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